Majority of Fife pupils and parents satisfied with region’s schools

Mark Dowie

More young people and their families are satisfied with Fife’s schools, according to the findings of the council’s latest survey.

The views of children and young people, and their fanilies, were sought in the annual Parentwise/pupilwise survey.

And the responses indicate high satisfaction rates for Fife’s schools.

Carrie Lindsay, executive director of education and children’s services, emphasised that the council is committed to making sure that pupils and parents had their say about the Kingdom’s schools and nurseries, and that those views were listened to and acted upon.

She said: “We have been doing these surveys since 2011/12 and every year the response rates increase.

“This year we had 33,423 responses which gives us a real insight into what children, young people and their families feel about their schools.

“We know that for our schools to be successful, our children, young people and families need to have their voices heard and to know that their suggestions and feedback are valuable in making sure we keep improving.

“We recently hosted the launch of the Education Scotland’s Learner Participation resource ‘How good is OUR school’, which is a toolkit to ensure that young people’s views are being taken into account when looking at how we improve our schools.

“This national resource was launched in Fife because of our history of making sure that decisions are made with and by our children and young people and not just for them.

“The voices of our children, young people and their families are a vital and integral part of how we improve our schools.”

From October 2017 to March this year 23,510 children and young people, from nursery right up to secondary school, took part in the survey.

As far as pupils are concerned, 70 per cent enjoy learning in their school/nursery, 76 per cent think they are making good progress in their learning and 79 per cent report that people in the school help them with their learning when they need it.

In addition, 76 per cent felt safe and cared for at nursery/school, 80 per cent knew who they could talk to if they were upset or worried about something.

From the parents’ points of view, 89 per cent felt that overall they were happy with the school/nursery, 91 per cent felt welcomed and well informed by the school and 93 per cent knew who to contact if they were worried about something affecting their child.